Welcome to Rewind World Game
Chapter 800 - 798: "Grandmother Paradox, Klein Bottle, Cosmic Program Theory (Part 1)

Chapter 800: Chapter 798: "Grandmother Paradox, Klein Bottle, Cosmic Program Theory (Part 1)

Beneath the sunlight, a wheelchair touched down beside a high tower.

Su Ming’an recognized this tower. It was located in the Central District of Doomsday City, an architectural piece intended for scenery. Usually, it was neither crowded nor remarkable.

But as Acto recited a string of passwords, the scene around the tower transformed drastically.

Streams of snow-white radiance appeared in the air like slow curtains being drawn back, revealing a surrounding surge of countless 0s and 1s in white data streams. Acto stepped into the high tower; Su Ming’an followed closely, entering an expanse of pure white space that resembled the universe, where even each step rippled with white.

This feeling was similar to returning to the Main God World, wrapped in endless white light.

"This is...?" Su Ming’an asked.

"The entrance to the Dawn System. You could think of it as the central control console of a Two-Dimensional World," Acto explained.

"I see. Hiding in such a place, indeed, it’s hard to find," Su Ming’an said, looking around.

Acto waved his hand, and a white table with two chairs rose from the ground.

"Please, take a seat," Acto said courteously, surrounded by swirling streams of white data that blossomed like flowers.

Even though just an AI, Su Ming’an could feel from Acto a temperament of gentle yet profound steadiness towards all things, perfectly blending emotion and reason equally compelling with charm.

Su Ming’an sat down; the white round table in front of him automatically displayed a cup of tea.

"What kind of tea do you prefer?" Acto’s fingers touched the teapot, as if he was about to conjure tea leaves from thin air.

"Can you create anything?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Of course, but only here," Acto replied.

"Coffee," Su Ming’an requested.

Acto smiled, his fingers moved slightly, and a steaming cup of coffee appeared in front of Su Ming’an.

"Su Ming’an, let’s begin our discussion—recently you signed the ’Civilization Gambling Pact’ with the Deity. If you can’t restart the Dawn System within twenty days, he will claim your Source of Civilization," Acto stated.

"Yes. He used the guidance to win the war as a bargaining chip, and I had no choice but to agree," Su Ming’an sipped his coffee.

Sitting face-to-face with Acto in this pure white space, surrounded by flowing streams of 0s and 1s, the setting resembled a negotiation between representatives of two civilizations.

His dark pupils reflected the white radiance, while Acto’s deep gray eyes mirrored him.

"But this bargain was one of the Deity’s aims from the start. With this pact, the Deity was bound to win without any loss. He simply exploited your mentality of ’no gain without loss’ to force you into signing this pact," Acto said, "However, discussing this now serves no purpose, as I am here to help you annul the pact."

"The Civilization Gambling Pact... It might not be cancellable," Su Ming’an said, "I believe that everything in the universe adheres to certain ’Rules.’"

Su Ming’an had long realized that this world, including the entire universe, resembled a game—a game that couldn’t deviate from the ’Rules’. Once a pact was signed, it must be honored. Otherwise, one would end up like the Player Blair who once revealed ’all those who Perfect Pass can make a wish’, getting erased directly by the organizers with white light.

Acto sipped his Biluochun tea and smiled, "Naturally, the pact can’t be reneged, but we can exploit loopholes within the ’Rules’."

"How so?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Your pact stipulates that you must—’restart the Dawn System within twenty days’." Acto’s fingers traced the air as he drew three characters:

’Twenty Days’.

’Contractor: Su Ming’an’.

’Restart the Dawn System’.

Su Ming’an stared at these three words and gently murmured, "Hmm?"

"Which of these three conditions do you think we could exploit?" asked Acto, his finger pausing, his tone somewhat coaxing as if he wanted to guide Su Ming’an to come up with the answer himself.

Su Ming’an’s gaze fixed on these three conditions.

"Twenty days," Su Ming’an replied.

"Why?" Acto asked.

"From the current clues, ’time’ is the content that differs most from reality in the Ruined World. If we want to break the game, it’s highly probable that we’ll have to start from this aspect," Su Ming’an said.

Acto smiled, "It seems your way of thinking has matured. I believe that even in future World Replicas, you can keep going."

Acto stood up, his finger tracing a large circle in mid-air, starting from ’twenty days’ and ending at ’restart the Dawn System,’ drawing a circle.

"—So, since we’ve chosen our breakthrough, we need a concrete plan of action—Su Ming’an, how do you think we should break through the ’twenty-day’ shackles?" Acto’s voice became serious.

Su Ming’an had already set down his coffee cup, realizing that Acto was teaching him how to ’break the game.’ In other words, Acto was teaching him ’how to master the world game.’

Breaking down the problem bit by bit, guiding, adapting solutions to the situation, gradually connecting clues, sorting out his thought processes, so as to decide what to do next—Acto was teaching him this kind of ’universal thought template for a perfect pass.’ This was a skill that couldn’t be found on world forums, infinitely more precious than Purple Grade equipment.

"Acto, are you my senior? Are you a senior in the ’world game’?" Su Ming’an couldn’t help but ask.

Acto’s gaze dropped, he was silent for a moment, then quickly said, "Answer my question first."

Su Ming’an set aside his doubts for the moment, "Tomorrow is the ’twentieth day.’ If I am to save the Ruined World, I will definitely reach the twentieth day; time cannot be rewound. Thus, the only breakthrough point I can think of is the Central City lab, which I haven’t yet solved."

That Central City lab, where time had stood still since the Catastrophe 72 years ago, was where he had stayed for three days at the start. There, there was the kind-hearted Mrs. Mela, the living assistant Treya, and the twin treasures Dong Xu and Xu Dong, all of whom adored him.

That place might be the point of breakthrough. But with too few clues, he couldn’t figure it out.

Seeing that Su Ming’an couldn’t deduce the next step, Acto tapped on the teapot and revealed the answer:

"Su Ming’an."

"—If we could redefine the contractor as a ’person who can never reach the twentieth day,’ this gambling pact would have no endpoint, and we could never lose. That is the best solution."

Su Ming’an was slightly startled.

"But how could I never reach the twentieth day? Unless I died on the nineteenth," Su Ming’an said.

Acto said, "You are the contractor, this is true and cannot be changed. But who says—there is only one of you in the Ruined World?"

Su Ming’an’s pupils contracted.

Acto’s words suddenly opened a new window for him.

"But a player’s time isn’t sliced; as a player, there should only be one of me," Su Ming’an shook his head.

Acto smiled:

"Not quite."

"Su Ming’an, you can’t mix up your definition of ’time’ with the definition of ’time’ in the Ruined World,"

"Generally speaking, the concepts of ’time’ and ’space’ are singular to you. As a human, you think time is just time, and space is just space. However, the dimensional theory of the Dawn System breaks through this singular boundary, merging time and space."

"’Time’ is quantifiable in front of us administrators. It is no longer a linear entity but a large grid. Based on this theory, we can catch different ’yous’ in different time grids—of course, these different ’yous’ are not actually ’you,’ because only the current ’you’ is truly ’you.’ The rest are mere phantoms lingering in the grid of time, but they fundamentally belong to the definition of ’you.’"

"Just like Cheng Luohe. He is himself as an antique dealer in the City of Measurement. As for his middle-aged sniper self in Two Dimensions, he is more like a phantom on the timeline."

"As long as it is considered ’you,’ it does not breach the rules of the Civilization Gambling Pact."

"Thus, if we lead the Contractor to ’your past self,’ we can ensure the Contractor never reaches the twentieth day."

These words of Acto gave Su Ming’an a new insight.

Since he was very young, Su Ming’an had wondered whether he from a day ago, or even a few hours ago, really counted as him. Is there a possibility that his life only began at this current second, and all previous memories were just infused into him at this moment?

He still hadn’t figured out the answer to this question, but Acto’s words provided him with new space for thought.

He lowered his gaze, lost in thought.

Seeing Su Ming’an like this, Acto said, "Su Ming’an, try your best to understand. If you can’t grasp this concept, how will you handle more complex instances in the future? This is only the ninth world."

"... Okay," Su Ming’an said.

He thought that if Noel were here, he would probably understand instantly.

"Here."

A bar of chocolate was extended toward him.

"Have some chocolate and think it over," Acto said, holding up a bar of chocolate.

Su Ming’an took it and bit into it with a "crack," feeling the sweetness fill his mouth—it was white chocolate.

"Done thinking?" Acto asked.

"Keep talking," Su Ming’an responded.

Acto stood up and, using his hand as a pen, drew a snow-white serpent in the air. The snake’s head was biting its tail, resembling a seamless ring.

—This was an Ouroboros, a snake with no beginning or end, similar to a Mobius strip.

"Su Ming’an, have you ever heard of the ’Ouroboros’?" Acto asked.

"It’s a snake with no head or tail," Su Ming’an said.

"Correct," Acto nodded, tapping his finger on the image of the Ouroboros:

"Then, have you ever considered—the Ruined World, in a sense, is like an Ouroboros?"

"Huh?" Su Ming’an responded uncertainly.

Streams of data swirled around them, and beneath the white Ouroboros, Acto articulated slowly:

"What I’m talking about now is not a species of snake but a definition of causality—that is, every cause has an effect, and every effect can trace back to a cause."

"Su Ming’an, have you ever contemplated the possibility—if Two Dimensions is a box, then because City of Measurement is a One Dimension, could it also be a box? Or, is there a bigger box above us? Boxes within boxes, endlessly?"

"Have you ever thought—being enclosed within these boxes, are we all just a form of program? Could the universe of humanity itself be an autonomously running program, which, upon meeting specific criteria, loops back to the start? Is the time of the universe’s rotation pre-defined data? Are ’black holes’ in the universe a kind of ’command program’ for instant coordinate transport? Could asteroid impacts on planets be considered variables introduced for ’measurement’, much like Roseblood? And, could the big bang be likened to a program restart or a new simulation of the world? The universe is a massive observation box, and beyond it—could there be a ’Yasa Acto’ manipulating this ’Dawn System’ of the universe?"

Bright white glows condensed in the air, forming words, each representing immense definitions.

Time.

Space.

Universe.

Restart.

It felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing Su Ming’an’s heart; faced with these theories, he found it hard to breathe. Even the taste of the chocolate in his mouth faded, his eyes fixed only on these glaring white words.

His vision stiffened, and a layer of cold sweat formed on his back.

"Su Ming’an."

Acto walked up to him.

In those deep gray eyes, it seemed as if myriad fleeting times and Wisdoms were locked.

"This is the first time I’ve heard such a theory, but... it fits well with the situation of the Ruined World," Su Ming’an pressed his chest, finally regaining his voice in his immense shock, "What should I do?"

"What I need you to do—is to link with an Ouroboros of the Ruined World," Acto said.

"How should I link?" Su Ming’an asked.

Acto stopped in front of him.

"Su Ming’an, you need to link this causality, making your ’twenty days’ into an Ouroboros with no beginning or end, so that ’your past self’ can never reach the twentieth day," Acto explained: "In more vernacular terms—"

Su Ming’an blinked, a sense of inexplicable anticipation building up. Thump, thump, thump, his heart beat like a drum, as if jumping into his throat.

He had a subtle premonition, as if a long-buried question was about to be answered—

Acto gazed at him, speaking softly:

"You need—"

"To ’self-induce yourself.’

...

If time is a 20cm line, with each 1cm representing a day,

and someone at 19cm cuts the line and pulls it back to the 1cm, tying a knot. Then 1cm and 19cm form a loop without a beginning or end.

Whoever walks from 1cm to 19cm on this line will never reach 20cm; instead, after reaching 19cm, he returns to 1cm.

—Tie 1cm and 19cm into a knot, making it an Ouroboros.

Then,

everything will be perfectly flawless.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.